Dash / gauges restoration

[IA6Barrel]

I need my dash and ralley gauges completely restored. Glove box, controls, radio... The whole thing. I talked to instrument specialists out in Rhode Island. His work is very good. But he shot me an approx estimate of $7500 ... I feel like this is pretty pricey. Am I that out of touch ? Should I feel shocked?

 

[Grady Cain]

Instrument Specialties did my dash pad and gauges only. I did all of the restoration of the dash frame, glovebox, ash tray, etc... as well as all of the plastic trim (mine is non-rallye.) The gauges can be tricky and Thomas over at I.S. spotted issues in my gauges that I didn't even notice until he pointed them out such as some of the numbers on the speedometer had a bit of rust visible as did the rivets that hold the gauge faces on due to moisture. The pointers had discolored and the numbers/letters weren't as crisp as when new. Plus old gauges needed to be tested/calibrated etc... so I had I.S. restore them as well. I was under $3,000 for everything (they had to weld pieces in on my steel dash pad core because I was adamant about saving the original.) Not sure what your abilities are but a lot of the pieces can be tackled yourself. As far as I.S. goes, their work is as close to perfection as you will find anywhere. It comes down to what level you're after and how much you're willing to spend to achieve that level...

 

[rbbruno3]

Instrument Specialties redid my gauges as well. They came out perfect I was around 3000 a couple years ago. that was just the gauge cluster . Now add on at least 1000 for your dash pad another 500 to 1000 for your radio depending on what that is. Then to restore all your plastics and paint and apply decals it adds up quick . Like GC said if you can tackle some of the work yourself you'll save a bunch. I actually sent my gauge cluster to them to get a more accurate price.

 

[Grady Cain]

Here's a quick example of what can be accomplished with just a little time spent. Cleaned, repainted, used silver paint pen to repaint surrounds, yellow and blue to repaint the directional arrows, white on the headlamp switch and replaced the sticker...

 

[David B]

Nice job! I need to repaint my silver when I pull my dash next month. Where did you buy the silver paint and is it a specific shade of silver?

 

[Grady Cain]

Honestly, it was just a silver (not chrome) paint pen that I got at a hobby/craft store.

 

[David B]

Thanks